t5's enough for 30" high tank, or go with mh?

[JCR's Reef]

Please dont overlook this as any information you have will help wager my choice's. T5'S OR 250W MH?
Right now I am running 4 (48") 32watt t8's and 2 (48") 28 watt t5's on a fowlr tank. It looks great and isn't near as bright as my old halides (sold them with last tank) but I don't think this is a good amount of light for corals ( Mushrooms and zoa's do great though). I plan on having a few clams and lps's in the future but I am wondering if t5's will even penetrate that far before they fade out before reaching the bottom? My tank is 30" high. I was wanting to go with 8 X 48" t5's and was wondering if there was a good ballast that would run 4 lamps at once so I would only need to purchase 2? or am I having to buy 4 seperate ballast's? Or how many t5's am I even going to need to go that deep? Halides might be a better choice for me but I was wanting some input on what other people know or have experienced. Any suggestions?

[Icefire]

First you have T5NO and not T5HO (48" are 54w).

If you want enought you'll need at least 6x54w (2 ballast) with individual reflector.

I'm starting a 110G too and will put 4x54w and 3x39w T5HO

[JCR's Reef]

Right now its just a fish only. Im still adding rockwork to it so I went with just plain lighting. So am I better off addin an individual reflector to each bulb? And what ballast would I use?

[mwmp5]

I purchased the Current Nova Extreme 8 - 54watt T-5 HO, it also has moon lighting. I olny have a 90 gal its 24" deep. My LFS is running 6 54watt T-5 HO system on there 30" deep 120 gal system , all coral doing well.

[yeldarbj]

I would use 2 - IceCap 660 ballast to overdrive the bulbs. Each ballast will run 4 4ft. bulbs. I think you'd be fine with 30" depth. I'm running T5's on a 24" high tank and have SPS growing near the bottom.

[hahnmeister]

I would consider T5HO's even more suited to a taller tank than halides, unless your tank is sooo tall (4' or more) that you just cant pack enough bulbs in the area to make enough light in the first place, then halide comes in simply because you can pack 400 watts of halide in a smaller area than 400 watts of T5s. But T5s, with individual parabolic reflectors, are better suited for tall tanks than halides.

[JCR's Reef]

Well thats what the wager kind of is. I can get 2- 250 watt halides that take up little room in my canopy which is 500 watts. Or I could go with 8x54 which is 432 watts and takes up and entire hood. Okay now when the bulbs need replaced halides are around $70 a bulb give or take a few and thats $140. T5's run around $18 and 8 of them will be $144. So cost wise its pretty much the same except I will be saving 78 watts. You save from the heat but loose the shimmer which is what I loved. Now if I could get away with running 4-54watt t5's then I think it would well worth it. But running 8 T5's is pretty much the same as running halides cost wise, or am I missing something?

[yeldarbj]

What are the dimensions of your tank? You might consider starting with 6 T5's and see what you can do. You can always plan to add 1-2 later if needed.

[JCR's Reef]

my tank is 72" long x 30" inches high. I have overflows on both sides so Im just going to use 48".
6 was the origianal number I was hoping for so I could have 3 lights per ballast. The more I read the more I realized that most people are running a tad bit more than 4 or 6 of them.

[Icefire]

T5HO last 18-24 months compared to 8-12 months for halide.

You'll have to ditch your T5 because they aren't HO. If it's the shimmer that you want, well there is non question, go with the halide.

[yeldarbj]

How deep (front to back) is your tank? If it's 18", you will only have room for 6, if it's 24", you can squeeze 6.

[JCR's Reef]

MWMP5-Is all the coral in your LFS a display only tank, or do they sell coral out of it? What do they have in it?
Is 6 enough? I'm thinking it is, it was my original thought until I started reading what other people had, but more isn't always better. I have 4-t8's as I stated ealier with 2 -t5's and I have room for 1 or 2 more bulbs. If I swap out the t8's like I plan too, I could get a few more in there w/o a doubt. And if I needed more bulbs I could do it like the nova extreme fixture and stager them to sqeeze in more.
Wont the Icecap ballast overdrive them? Wont the life of the bulb be less then 18-24 months if overdriven? Or do you not have to overdrive them?

[yeldarbj]

It's not just how many bulbs you have, you need individual reflectors on each bulb.

I got just under a year on overdriven bulbs before I noticed a significant cyano outbreak, replaced the old bulbs and cyano disappeared.

[JCR's Reef]

Yeldarbj- My tank isnt all that wide maybe 14" or so, But when we move I plan on purchasing a diffent tank ( wider) in a year or so. It'll probably be a 125 or 180, but either way they are just wider, not deeper. That why I was wondering if t5's would work on this so I can convert them to my other tanks in the future.

[yeldarbj]

You should be able to get 5 bulbs with IceCap reflectors. I've got 5 in 12.5".

[JCR's Reef]

Do the Icecap reflectors put out the most light? Are the TEK good reflectors?

[hahnmeister]

Icecap are great, and so are Tek2 (within 5% of each other depending on how they are used). The problem is with the Tek2's thickness... its just a hair over 3" thick, while the Icecap is more like 2.5". So you can fit more Icecap in the same space than you can Tek2. On the other hand, for a 6' tank, you have indicated you want 3 bulbs per ballast, which means you are talking 5' bulbs. Well... guess what, Icecap SLR's dont come in 5' (unless you buy them direct for $$$ where they overlap two 3' reflectors together to make a 5')... so you are left with the Tek2, unless you find some other make or brand to get you 5' reflectors.

If you go with 4' bulbs (as you have also indicated due to your overflows), and only run 3 on each ballast, I have heard this will overdrive them even more than running 4... up to 100 watts each I have heard. This means you will need a very good thermal solution, as in loads of fans, and even at that, the bulbs still will burn faster. At a minimum, running 4' bulbs will mean they get about 80 watts each, which is nice when you start, but you can kiss T5's longevity goodbye, esp the actinics and aquablue bulbs (blue+ bulbs dont seem to be as sensitive depending on who makes them). Running 5' bulbs, 3 at a time on an IC660 is a very mild overdrive... only about 6% when you compare spec T5 ballasts (which tend to be about 92-94 watts anyways for an 80 watt bulb). You keep alot of the longevity this way, but the only problem is finding 5' reflectors. With only 14" to work with, thats 5 bulbs at most if you use Tek2's.

Now that you have posted your tank's wonky front to back dimension, I would suggest a different route for lighting. If you want to keep anything that requires more than a medium amount of light, I would suggest halides, or a more compact 5' fixture option. Many T5 fixtures, like the Fauna Marin or ATI power modul, only need 2" per bulb. So you could get a 6 bulb unit over your tank then (Id say 7, but good luck on that...lol, if Aquatinincs comes out with a 5' Solar Flare, thats your only bet). Maybe you could get Aquatinics to make a 5' constellation with their reflectors (similar in output to the Icecap), and wire in your own ballast? Those have 7 bulbs.

Otherwise, halide might actually be your best bet. Three 250watt pendants... lumenmax or something.

[yeldarbj]

You could always consider 2 sets of 36" bulbs.

[JCR's Reef]

Thanks meister- I dont want to overdrive them since I heard it shifts the color spectrum too much. 60" T5's are also hard to find. 48" is a little more common. When I was reading TEk relfectors states they put our 300% more light , while Icecap just states they reflect 95% of the light. But if Icecap has a smaller footprint I would go with them.
Yeldarbj- It would be more cost effective for me to run 48".
All my live rock is in the middle part of the tank anyways . My rock work starts off about a foot from each side. Plus it will give the lower light corals a place to grow. My shrooms are currently growing on the overflow wall at the bottom of the tank . My overflows are on the sides but they do not take up all of the sides. They have an area that is open on the front and back part of the tank which sucks because you cant see whats back there. I leave it open so that I know the fish and the flow are hopefully kicking up all the detrius that usually collects into the corners.

[saveafish]

If you have a 48" long 18" wide tank you can get 8 T5 36" Long in there. I got a 5' tank and I got 8 48" T5's ran on 2 ballast from advance. The ballast are 4X54 HO and 29$ at HD or Lowes. each bulb is staggered about 5" so I could get the waterprof end caps in there. I faced 1 powerhead toward the top surface to give the water motion and BOOM good shimmer 26" deep. with lamps endcaps and ballast it was 220$ for a DIY 8XT5 with a itbit over 400 watts

[saveafish]

If you want I will get a picture of it. And if you want to meet in indy. I will help you build it.

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by JCR's Reef
Thanks meister- I dont want to overdrive them since I heard it shifts the color spectrum too much. 60" T5's are also hard to find. 48" is a little more common. When I was reading TEk relfectors states they put our 300% more light , while Icecap just states they reflect 95% of the light. But if Icecap has a smaller footprint I would go with them.
Yeldarbj- It would be more cost effective for me to run 48".
All my live rock is in the middle part of the tank anyways . My rock work starts off about a foot from each side. Plus it will give the lower light corals a place to grow. My shrooms are currently growing on the overflow wall at the bottom of the tank . My overflows are on the sides but they do not take up all of the sides. They have an area that is open on the front and back part of the tank which sucks because you cant see whats back there. I leave it open so that I know the fish and the flow are hopefully kicking up all the detrius that usually collects into the corners.

60" t5s arent THAT much harder to find. All the major e-tailers carry them. They are the best bang for the buck though since they pack the most wattage per foot into the bulb (enough wattage for a 6' bulb), and only cost what... a buck or two more than a 4'er? Using Icecap ballasts, you can run 3 on a 660, and its barely an overdrive (6%), which is little to nothing compared to say... overdriving 4' bulbs (which ends up being 80 watts on a 54 watt bulb!). I wouldnt worry too much about the corners. A 5' bulb is going to be about 58" long only, and of that, the 1.5" at each end is still dark. So in the end, a 5' bulb is really only about 55-56" long.

As for the Icecap with its 95%, vs. the Tek2 with its 300%... those are arbitrary marketing numbers. As you can see earlier in another thread in these forums right now...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1

The Tek2 has a SLIGHT advantage when used in a cluster, but is it enough to make up for the fact you cant fit as many in the same space as the Icecap SLR? Depends on the tank in the end.

[JCR's Reef]

Saveafish- That is exactly what I wanted to hear! What Model # of Advance ballast are you using? My email address is in my profile, I would love to see some pictures.
With 2 Icecap 660's ($318) , 8 reflectors ($160), 4 pair of endcaps ($40), 4 pair of stand offs($40), 8 light bulbs($179), and what ever else I'm forgetting, Im looking at well over $700. I can buy a TEK for around $400 and it's just plug and play. It even comes with the bulbs!
Meister- I can find 60" reflectors-specialty-lights.com- but I cant find lights that are 60". I'm not wanting to overdrive the bulbs, I dont feel I need too. If I went with the Icecap ballast I would go with 4 bulbs per ballast. If I come accross 60" bulbs that would be awsome because I would like to only run 6 bulbs. If I have to run 8 bulbs, the majority would be 14k and up with only 1-6500k and the other 10k and the rest to just get the color I would like.

[hahnmeister]

Well, if you only have a tank that is 14" thick, thats not wide enough for many bulbs. Do you have a different dimension or something?

60" bulbs? I know reefgeek has plenty. I think premium aquatics does as well.

[yeldarbj]

Saveafish, Are you using individual reflectors?

JCR - if you don't want to overdrive, just go with a 4x48 Tek Retro. I really don't think you will be able to put more than 5 bulbs with individual reflectors in those 14".